Steel demand in India fell for the second consecutive month in October -- a development that does not bode well for the industry already reeling under subdued business sentiment.
Steel consumption in the world's third largest producer of the metal fell by 0.5 per cent to 7.11 million tonnes last month compared to September 2016, while on a year-on-year basis, it fell by 1.4 per cent over October 2015, latest data from the Steel Ministry's Joint Plant Committee (JPC) showed.
Steel consumption in September 2016 stood at 6.73 MT, a decline of 7.7 per cent over the previous month. However, as compared to September 2015, it rose by 7.6 per cent.
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On the brighter side, the demand for the metal during the April-October period this fiscal rose by 2.8 per cent to 48.09 MT compared to the same period of 2015-16.
Another silver lining is contraction in steel import, which has been a major headache for the sector.
Imports of the metal in October 2016 fell by 55 per cent to 0.54 MT against October 2015 and by 12.4 per cent compared to September 2016.
During April-October 2016-17, imports registered a decline of 40 per cent to 4.14 MT compared to the year-ago period.
Another positive development is the healthy 95 per cent jump in exports to 0.54 MT in October 2016 over October 2015, however, on a month-on-month basis, the outbound shipments contracted by 18.2 per cent over September 2016.
Steel exports rose by 42 per cent in April-October 2016-17 to 3.57 MT over same period of last fiscal.
In terms of production, steel output rose by 11.8 per cent to 8.23 MT last month over October 2015 and by 2.3 per cent compared to September 2016.
During April-October 2016-17, output stood at 56.22 MT, a growth of 8.1 per cent compared to the year-ago period.
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